Tonight is destined to be different from the previous quietness.
Two minutes ago, some intermittent broadcasts began to be heard in the distance, reminding students that someone had piled up dangerous goods behind the campus and asking them not to run around.
Wen Shi took ten seconds to think about the mastermind behind the bombing and came up with three suspects: the principal, Teacher Qi, and Teacher Ruan.
All three of them had motives for committing the crime. The principal wanted to blow up something; Teacher Qi did it because he cared about his students. Song Yan said that he buried water grass seeds that night, and the scent emitted by the water grass in the lake can affect the human body. This may have been noticed by Teacher Qi; as for Teacher Ruan, the reason was even simpler. He wanted to injure the principal and make him completely unable to deal with the mermaids, thus creating a good environment for the merman king to revive.
Mermaids are all masters of tactics. Wen Shi is more inclined to believe that it was Teacher Ruan who did it. Now time is tight, so he can only wait and confirm it later.
·
The explosion behind the campus lake was arranged by Teacher Ruan.
He was always very careful about important matters and had never told anyone before.
Since the principal discovered that there was something wrong with the lake and often conducted secret investigations at midnight, Teacher Ruan took advantage of the situation and buried explosives nearby in advance. He didn't expect to kill the other party in one go, but at least a serious injury would be good enough.
“The smell of nitric acid.”
A familiar and hateful voice appeared, and a hot breath that was completely different from the night rushed from behind. Before Teacher Ruan turned around, his waist collapsed and he was pressed down on the table by mental force again.
"After planning the bombing, at least I have cleaned up the criminal smell."
"you… "
Yaerlin was a very domineering person, and he never liked to be interrupted when he spoke. Before Teacher Ruan could utter a word, his throat seemed to be strangled, and he couldn't speak.
When Wen Shi and the others were discussing the mission, Yaerlin heard everything clearly. At this moment, he was leaning against the wall, and his ability to make up stories was even stronger than Wen Shi's: "I'm here to kindly remind you that the principal has found a way to sense the true believers of the Mermaid King. If you want to stay alive, you'd better feed your loyalty to the dogs as soon as possible."
Yaerlin shrugged: "As long as you don't believe in the Mermaid King, you won't be sensed."
Teacher Ruan was about to refute with an expressionless face, but heard the other party speak in a calm tone: "I am a bastard, but I don't lie."
A strong and overbearing person gives people the impression that he really disdains lying.
Unfortunately, the reality is exactly the opposite. What matches Yarlin's fighting power is not his contempt for conspiracy, but more conspiracies and tricks.
"You left the scene too early and didn't hear the principal say that he would soon use something to catch you all in one fell swoop."
When Wen Shi mentioned that the Mermaid King's heart had been dug out, Yaerlin was right next to him. He hinted that Teacher Ruan and Principal Ruan had been able to find them through the Mermaid King's heart.
It was just a lie with some basis, and Yaerlin didn't expect Teacher Ruan to believe it, but when people betray, they always need an excuse.
It can serve as self-comfort, making the betrayal more thorough.
The main purpose of Yaerlin's visit tonight was just to help Wen Shi identify the suspect in the bombing. He guessed that his younger brother would definitely investigate the matter after he came back.
Instead of hearing Teacher Ruan scolding him for talking nonsense at the first moment, Teacher Ruan fell into deep thought for almost two seconds. Yaerlin couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. This was not like the behavior of a loyal believer.
As a believer, the quickest reaction is to protect the Lord unconditionally and then start cursing immediately.
Did he actually waver a little? Yarlin subconsciously looked towards the mirror.
Mirror: [Is Wang Ke okay?]
Then he gave Yarlin another knock on his lie.
Yaerlin's expression was a little complicated for a moment.
At least I was sober, and they all forgot that there was another person who had been in the play from beginning to end.
Teacher Ruan was pressed down on the table by mental force and couldn't raise his head. He didn't see the small words constantly appearing on the surface of the mirror above him: [Tell Wang not to worry about me].
Song Yan's life philosophy is half about protecting his master, and the other half about devouring true spirits.
The [Philosophical Mirror] he transformed into was a professional match in making Teacher Ruan question the rules in order to retaliate against the Mermaid King!
Yaerlin, who hadn't heard Wen Shi mention Song Yan for a long time, thought silently that when he left later, he had to remind his younger brother that there was someone else here, otherwise he would most likely be left behind.
The cat master recently briefly forgot his most loyal little slave.
Song Yan's body transformation can be continued continuously, and there is no risk as long as he is not discovered, so Wen Shi is not too worried.
The black cat was still reading quickly under the moonlight, its claws almost turning the pages to sparks. The book on the table recorded the detailed history of mermaids. The books collected by the principal did not contain any text pollution, which indirectly facilitated its reading. After skipping through some of the books, it stopped.
The key points of these pages were all highlighted with a marker. The principal had almost torn the book apart every day, but he didn't notice anything. He might not be able to match the other party in terms of knowledge and memory.
The cat's pupils reflected the night view outside. It paced back and forth on the windowsill for a few seconds, then turned to observe other parts of the room.
It searched through drawers, cabinets and other places where things could be hidden. When the countdown on the panel was halfway through, it finally found only one suspicious object: there was a file bag in the principal's bedside table, which contained shredded physical examination reports.
But Wen Shi doesn't have time to fight now.
"We can't just search aimlessly." Black Cat forced himself to calm down.
When doing a test question, the first thing to do is to review the question. The most urgent task is to find out how the mermaid king's heart was lost.
It is unlikely that this is recorded in the book, which means that it must be learned through other information channels. The background story of the copy mentioned that a hundred years later, the mermaid became a horror legend. The principal must not be more than a hundred years old, otherwise the teachers, students and parents would have discovered something wrong long ago.
Therefore, the matter of the Mermaid King must be traced back to the generation above the principal.
I have to start looking from the principal's grandfather or even older.
The principal lives alone, and there are only traces of his personal life in the house. Wen Shi had previously searched through all the drawers and boxes, and the only thing that could be related to the principal's relatives and friends was the photo album.
"Family portrait."
It ran to the cabinet and started flipping through the photo album rapidly.
After all, claws are not as useful as hands. However, in the dark building, the light is too conspicuous. Wen Shi needs to rely on the cat's night vision ability and can only maintain the state of changing his body.
The family portrait was not found, but a man with features somewhat similar to the principal was seen. Behind him was a huge fishing boat with a harpoon flag on the front, and workers were constantly carrying sealed barrels onto it.
The styles of photos from different eras can be seen at a glance. There is a small line of date marks below the photos, which is exactly one hundred years from now.
Referring to the time point mentioned in the background of the story, this ship is very likely related to the demise of the Mermaid King.
Wen Shi noticed the sealed barrel in the photo. If it was used to deal with mermaids, it would contain two things: contaminated liquid or weapons.
I've never heard of a torpedo being stuffed into a barrel, so it's clear what's inside.
One hundred years ago, an elder in the principal's family participated in a plan to eliminate mermaids, using extremely extreme means.
"So the mermaid may not have been so powerful at the beginning," Wen Shi frowned, "it's a second round of mutation."
Players in the study room will be mutated due to wound infection, which is consistent with the attack characteristics of all NPCs in virus copies. Whether it is a large factory dominated by Meiling Liquid or Sunset Town dominated by Evolution Liquid, players are likely to be infected and mutated.
[You discovered the secret in the album]
The system's cold reminder sounded.
There was a turtle paddling against the tide.
If Wen Shi had not been to Sunset Town, he would have directly skipped over this inconspicuous turtle. However, Wen Shi, who had dealt with turtle people several times, could tell at a glance that the limbs exposed under the turtle shell were not right and were more like human limbs.
"Turtle man?"
Wen Shi once speculated whether the True Spirit was inspired by the evolution of mermaids and created an orc kingdom. Now, regardless of whether the two places are connected, at least the Turtle Man has been to the Mermaid Coast.
He began to look for books on the bookshelf purposefully, took out the admissions brochure, and made sure that the places the off-campus admissions office passed did not include Sunset Town.
The turtle man in the photo only appeared inadvertently. In fact, he was sailing on the sea, and there was no sign of any deep contact with the principal's family.
There may be more than one secret in the album.
Wen Shi thought about it and began to further examine the album. The cover was of uneven thickness. He scratched it lightly with his fingernails and found that there was a letter hidden inside the outer cover.
"Tsk." A human-like expression appeared on the cat's face.
The photo album was covered in dust. If the principal had flipped through it a few more times, he would have found the letter.
The letter was written in several parts, more like a diary of different time periods:
-
There have been many young people missing on the coast recently. When the police were still investigating, I knew that the mermaids had reappeared. I remember when I was young, my grandfather often told me that the mermaids and the coastal residents had a long and bloody conflict. After both sides were defeated, the mermaids returned to the sea.
-
This was a war about survival. My grandfather participated in that siege. Before the mermaid disappeared, he vowed to kill all the residents on the coast.
-
Someone is missing again, and this time it's my own brother. I have decided to completely eradicate this species at all costs.
The few lines of words were written in a sloppy and forceful manner, and part of the handwriting even tore through the paper, which showed the hatred in the writer's heart.
-
These guys are very cunning and it is not easy to catch them because mermaids have good voices and they are very good at confusing people.
-
Maybe I could try to poison their throats, but I don't have the skills to make medicine, so I'd have to go find a doctor in the hospital.
-
The doctor's son was eaten by a mermaid. He hated mermaids very much and said that ordinary medicines were useless and we had to use more extreme methods.
There were more words on the back of the letter, even more scribbled:
-
I feel a little regretful. I thought I was very comprehensive. I imported fresh water from outside to provide it to residents and developed art as a new source of income. But I didn't expect that pollution would bring more than just death.
-
There was a mermaid that couldn't be killed, so the victim's family came up with a crazy idea to cook and eat it. But before the plan was implemented, someone suddenly wanted to protect the mermaid like crazy, saying it was pitiful, and more and more residents joined in.
-
Before the armed conflict broke out, I secretly cut the mermaid into four pieces and asked someone to seal the cut body in four places in the academy. Just in case, I told my children the sealing locations and asked them to keep an eye on them at all times.
-
When I cut up the mermaid, I discovered a horrible scar on its chest.
There is blood on the edge of the last line of writing, and the writing is weak and powerless. The person who wrote it was obviously not in good health at this time:-
May God forgive our sins.
Wen Shi read the entire content without any ripples, and sorted out the timeline. The older generation hunted the mermaids for revenge, but when it came to the principal, it was obvious that he had other thoughts. That torn medical examination report might be the beginning of his road of no return.
In order to get a healthy body, the principal dug out the heart of the mermaid king.
But the principal only has half a heart, and the other half is missing.
Coastal residents have to rely on pollution to deal with mermaids. The possibility of other ordinary marine creatures harming the mermaid king and leaving a deep scar on his chest is almost zero.
unless…
He had left this scar himself.
The task only requires guessing who hid the other half of the heart. If it were someone else, they might hesitate, after all, digging out one's own heart is an outrageous act.
But when Wen Shi thought that the Mermaid King might have had contact with the Turtle Man, he felt it was too normal!
"Fuck." The black cat uttered something sweet, not knowing what he was thinking about.
—Don’t get close to the Mermaid King, or you’ll become unlucky.
If you think about it carefully, this doesn't sound like something a tour guide who doesn't believe in fate would say. It's more like the attitude of a turtle person.
Wen Shi reasonably suspected that the turtle man in the photo accidentally encountered the mermaid king when he swam to the sea here.
The turtle man probably chose to take a detour immediately, but just like when he met the tour guide at the train station, perhaps because of its strange appearance, or maybe because of the same rebellious mentality as the tour guide, the mermaid king forced himself to make contact.
The course of events is unknown, but the result is easy to guess. After the Turtle Man returned to Sunset Town, he spread the topic of the Mermaid King's misfortune everywhere.
The final destination of the Sunset Red Tour Group is Sunset Town. It is impossible for the tour guide, who is so stingy, to come to the Mermaid Coast for a private tour. She probably heard this from the turtle man.
Wen was not 100% sure about the above speculation, but the clues in the letters in the album were enough to prove that the Mermaid King himself had hidden half of his heart.
He decisively gave the answer to the game.
"Are you sure the person hiding is the Mermaid King?"
"yes."
The task countdown is paused.
The next second, the game prompt sounded again.
[Side quest - Lost Heart Completed]
[One hundred years ago, the Mermaid King encountered the Turtle Man. The Turtle Man took a detour and kept muttering that he wanted to go back to find the brazier, and successfully attracted the Mermaid King's attention.
Faced with this strange-looking creature, the Mermaid King bewitched it with his singing. Knowing that the turtle man was good at fortune-telling, the Mermaid King had an idea and asked it to calculate whether it was possible to successfully take revenge on humans.
Knowing that he would fail, the Mermaid King was furious and wanted to eat the Turtle Man. After waking up, the Turtle Man immediately gave a solution: As long as the green mountains remain, there will be no shortage of firewood. When he is desperate one day, he can consider cutting off half of his heart to make a comeback.]
[Task Reward: You can trigger the hidden map under the lake alone, and have a chance to find half of the heart hidden by the mermaid.]
"… "
If there is a chance in the future, Wen Shi will definitely advise Turtle Man not to make suggestions again.
He suddenly checked the attribute panel. Ji Yuanzhi said that he had a complete path for apostle to be promoted to high priest, but he wondered if his other people had it.
[Believers: 258]
After the news that there would be punishment for betraying King Asa spread, the number of Wenshi's followers increased instead of decreased.
He opened the detailed list and tried poking it twice. The students from Pearl College did not respond after touching their names, but the turtle man at the bottom of the list was able to click further.
[Follower-Turtle Man Promotion Route: National Master]
[I am no longer in the martial arts world, but my legend is still in the martial arts world. After reaching the achievement of fortune-telling in at least three copies across different dimensions, you can transition to the state teacher. ]
The system likes to use old internet terms to describe NPCs related to Sunset Town. These were all what Zhen Ling heard from his father. Unfortunately, there was no chance to further enrich the vocabulary later.
[Who says a country can only have one national teacher? Your national teachers may be all over the world. ]
[After being promoted to Imperial Master, you can activate your bloodline talent]
[Click on details to display the content↓]
The apostles' promotion routes were kept confidential, so Wen Shi was unable to view Ji Yuanzhi's details about them, but it seemed to have its benefits.
He began to poke at the "King" column frantically.
Since I am the king, there should be some promotion route for me to conquer the world.
[King: King of Uzza. All roads lead to Rome. You were born in Rome. You don’t need to be promoted. Please actively develop downlines.]
"…" Don't force a polite cat to swear.
(End of this chapter)